Colonial scholars have taken immense pleasure in portraying Africans as possessed by spirits but as lacking possession and ownership of their resources, including land. Erroneously deemed to be thoroughly spiritually possessed but lacking senses of material possession and ownership of resources, Africans have been consistently dispossessed and displaced from the era of enslavement, through colonialism, to the neocolonial era. Delving into the historiography of dispossession and displacement on the continent of Africa, and in particular in Zimbabwe, this book also tackles contemporary forms of dispossession and displacement manifesting in the ongoing transnational corporations land grabs in Africa, wherein African peasants continue to be dispossessed and displaced.
Focusing on the topical issues around dispossession and repossession of land, and the attendant displacements in contemporary Zimbabwe, the book theorises displacements from a decolonial Pan-Africanist perspective and it also unpacks various forms of displacements – corporeal, noncorporeal, cognitive, spiritual, genealogical and linguistic displacements, among others. The book is an excellent read for scholars from a variety of disciplines such as Geography, Sociology, Social Anthropology, History, Linguistics, Development Studies, Science and technology Studies, Jurisprudence and Social Theory, Law and Philosophy. The book also offers intellectual grit for policy makers and implementers, civil society organisations including activists as well as thinkers interested in decolonisation and transformation.
Author(s): Jairos Kangira, Artwell Nhemachena, Nelson Mlambo
Publisher: Langaa Research & Publishing CIG
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 280
City: Mankon, Bamenda
Cover
Title page
Copyright page
About the Contributors
Contents
Chapter One - Theorising Displacement, Elimination and Replacement: An Introduction to Decolonising Land Issues
Introduction
Spirit Possessed but Materially Dispossessed? The Colonial Legitimation of the Displacement of Africans
Displacements from Nation States to Virtual Spaces and Eliminating Ownership Rights over National Resources
Chapter Outlines
References
Chapter Two - Land Dispossession and the Genesis of Crises in Zimbabwe: Implications for Sustainable Livelihoods and People-centred Development as Depicted in Selected Zimbabwean Fictional Narratives
Introduction
Labyrinthine link between Literary Depictions and Theoretical Frameworks-Grounding vis-à-vis deeply-held Land Perceptions/Prejudices
The Post-2000 Land Conundrum and Crisis in Selected Narratives: Appreciation of Crises, Acrimony and Sustainable Development
Conclusion
References
Chapter Three - ‘Mapfupa angu achamuka ’ (My bones will rise again): Spirituality, History, Memory and Ancestry in Land Ownership ‘Debates’ in Zimbabwe
Introduction
Liberation War: Multidimensional Concepts of Land among the Shona and/or Zimbabwean People
The Role of Spirit Mediums and Ancestors in Life amongst the Shonas
The Link between Land and Ancestry: Spiritualism and the Liberation Wars in Zimbabwe
When the Sins of the ‘Ancestors’ Haunt the Grandchildren: Politics of Entitlement, The Third Chimurenga and the Discourse of Land Appropriation Without Compensation
Conclusion
References
Chapter Four - Pegging Out Claims in Space and Place: The Theme of Land Redistribution in the Music of Simon Chimbetu
Introduction
Why Chimbetu?
Some Theoretical Considerations
Orality and the Past
The Zimbabwean Land Redistribution
Chimbetu’s Cultural Context
Performance and Entertainment
Metaphor in Chimbetu’s Music
Conclusion
References
Chapter Five - Of Mothers, Umbilical Cords and Tongues: Land Ownership, Language and Identity in Chirikure Chirikure’s Rukuvhute
Introduction
Background
Theoretical Framework
Of Mothers, Language and Identity
The Mother Tongue and Identity in Chirikure Chirikure’s Rukuvhute
The Land and Umbilical Cord in Chirikure Chirikure’s Poetry
The Land and the Umbilical Cord in Chirikure’s Rukuvhute
Post-colonial Hybridity and Identity in Rukuvhute
Conclusion
References
Chapter Six - Discourses of Colonial Displacement: The Impetus of Selected Historical Novels
Introduction
Theoretical Framework
Humans and Environmental Degradation
Nature as an Agent of Destruction
Convergence of Post-colonial and Environmental Issues
General Colonialism in Africa
Power Structures
The Significance of Land Ownership and Identity
Man and the Environment in Waiting for the Rain (1975)
Induction and Ramification of Colonialism in Waiting for the Rain
Man and the Environment in The Grass is Singing
Ramification of Colonialism on the Coloniser
Conclusion
References
Chapter Seven - Spatial Marginalisation: (Re)reading Musaemura Zimunya’s Gendered Space and Place in Country Dawns and City Lights
Introduction
Background
Contextualising Space and Place
Theoretical Framework
The Country in Country Dawns and City Lights
The Woman and the City
Spatial Marginalisation: The Woman, the Man and the City
Weaknesses of Zimunya’s Anthology
Conclusion
References
Chapter Eight - The San People of Zimbabwe: Decades after Land Dispossession
Introduction
A Historical Background of the San People of Southern Africa
Are the San People of Zimbabwe Indigenous to Zimbabwe?
Dispossession of Land for the San People of Southern Africa
Global Marginalisation of Indigenous Communities
Loss of Ancestral Lands by Indigenous People
Loss of Bio-cultural Diversity, Traditional Knowledge and Culture
Tshwa Culture after Decades of Land Dispossession
Conclusion
References
Chapter Nine - Interrogation of the Nexus between Land Restitution and Poverty Alleviation in Contemporary Zimbabwe
Introduction
Rationale for Land Restitution and Relationship to Poverty Alleviation
Contextual Background of Land Restitution in Zimbabwe
The “New” Land Policy of the Second Phase
The Case Study of Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe
Impact of Land Redistribution in Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe
Conclusion
References
Chapter Ten - The Gendered Dispossession of Land in Colonial Rhodesia: An Analysis of Thomson Kumbirai Tsodzo’s Pafunge and Patrick Chakaipa’s Dzasukwa Mwana-Asina-Hembe
Introduction
Contextualising the Gendered Dispossession of Land in Colonial Rhodesia
Theoretical Framework
The Colonial Farm as a Form of Gendered Dispossession of Land in Dzasukwa-Mwana-Asina-Hembe
Religious Hypocrisy and Gendered Land Dispossession in Pafunge
Conclusion
References
Chapter Eleven - Fictionalising Resistance to Land Repossession: Political Economies of Displacement and the Imagination of a Better Zimbabwe
Introduction
Literary Evocations of the Land Problematique in Three Short Stories
Conclusion
References
Back cover
